Lady Gaga - Rain on Me - Single [Review]

When American pop singer Lady Gaga released "Stupid Love" (which I reviewed here) - the lead single from her upcoming studio album Chromatica - I was not initially all that impressed, but the song quickly grew on me. I quickly became obsessed with it and couldn't stop listening to it, and I still stand by my opinion that it is her strongest lead single since "Bad Romance" of 2009. The album's second single - titled "Rain on Me" - leaves a lot for me to be desired, however. I have listened to the song multiple times now, and it still has not clicked for me, and I feel disappointed but not surprised. Why am I not surprised? Well, when I saw the song listed on the tracklisting, I didn't expect to be overly impressed because I have never been a fan of Ariana Grande, and Ariana Grande, who is featured as a guest artist on "Rain on Me," dominates the song, almost making it seem as if Gaga is the featured artist. As I said, I have never been a fan of Grande. Her music is, to me, generic and flavorless R&B, and her sultry and whiny voice makes me want to tear my hair out. (Other favorites of mine such as Lana Del Rey and Troye Sivan have also collaborated with her, and I am not a fan of those songs either, especially not the Troye Sivan number.) I will admit that my unfavorable outlook toward Grande probably, to a degree, makes me a biased listener, but I am also not all that taken by the melody of the song. While I do appreciate the retro '90s sound of the song and the early '90s dance rhythm, I just don't find the melody to be all that interesting, although I do like Gaga singing, in her signature commanding and low register, the seemingly punctuated words: "Rain. On. Me." The song is, in part, addressing an ex-lover: "I didn't ask for a free ride," Gaga asserts at the opening of the song. "I only asked you to show me a real good time." She seems to be using rain as a metaphor for tears and sadness following the end of the relationship (a bit cliché), but according to Genius, it is also meant to be a metaphor for alcohol as a coping mechanism: "I'd rather be dry," she sings in the song's chorus - undoubtedly the best part, "but at least I'm alive." This line, in the context of alcohol, seems to be saying that she would rather be sober, but at least she has found a way to cope with the pain. There have been times in the past when I went a very long time not caring much for a song until it finally struck me, so maybe this one just needs some extra time to grow on me, but as of now, I am really not impressed and am hoping that this song is an outlier on Chromatica. I fortunately have a feeling, based on the song titles and imagery that Gaga has been using to promote the album, that it will be. "Rain on Me" is somewhat of a generic dance track, and I am not expecting that from the majority of the album. (I am, in fact, getting Born This Way vibes from the cover art and imagery, which excites me as that is without a doubt my favorite Lady Gaga album.)